How We Treat Lung And Thoracic Cancers

Your case is unique, which means your treatment plan will be designed around your needs. Every week, a team of specialists meets to discuss cancer cases and collaborate on the best treatment for each patient. You benefit from the combined expertise of specialists in radiology, surgery, pathology, pharmacology and oncology and therapists in fields like physical therapy and psychology.

Your recommended treatment will be based on best practices that have worked for other patients, specific aspects of your cancer/tumor, the results of all your tests, the stage of your cancer and your personal preferences.

Treatment of lung cancer depends on the type of cancer – either small cell or non-small cell. Infusion chemotherapy is the primary treatment for small cell cancer because it tends to grow and spread quickly. Surgery (segmentectomy, lobectomy or pneumonectomy) to remove the tumor is often the preferred treatment method for non-small cell lung cancer.

Surgery is the most common way to treat lung cancer. In a segmentectomy, or wedge resection, only the tumor is removed, and the rest of the lung is left intact. In a lobectomy, one of the two lobes in the lung is removed. In a pneumonectomy, the entire lung is removed. Your doctor may also do surgery to see if the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes under your arm, which may require other types of treatment after surgery.

This type of therapy uses high-energy X-rays to kill cancer cells. This treatment can be used to shrink a tumor before surgery. Or it may be used after surgery to kill cancer cells that may remain in the chest, area.

This treatment uses powerful medicines to kill cancer cells all through the body. It may be used to shrink a tumor before surgery or to kill any cancer cells that remain after other, focused treatments. Often two to three chemotherapy medications are given together to treat lung cancer. Your doctor will determine the best combination of medications to control the growth of your lung cancer.

Targeted therapy is the use of medicines that target the parts of cancer cells that make them unlike normal cells. They do this without affecting most normal, healthy cells. The drugs are different from standard chemotherapy medicines and may work when chemotherapy medicines don’t, often with less severe side effects.

Depending on your cancer and overall health history, you may the option of participating in clinical trials as part of your cancer care. Clinical trials are the final stage of research programs that develop new ways to prevent, detect and treat cancer. They determine whether new treatments are safe and effective and work better than current available treatments. Most of the treatments used today are the results of past clinical trials.